The lives and stories of Oregon State University

Terralyn Vandetta received a Top Banana Award for the College of Forestry, which collected the most donations for last year's OSU Food Drive. This year, the College of Forestry topped the charts again. (photo: Theresa Hogue)

Oregon State University’s annual food drive took place in February, and this year’s totals have just been tallied. This year, Oregon State students, staff and faculty raised more than 521,139 pounds of food for the Oregon Food Bank Network, which surpassed the original food drive goal of 485,000 lbs.

The spirit of healthy competition helped drive up this year’s numbers, as did a long list of events aimed at raising money and food donations for the event, including bake sales, craft sales and soup events.

The College of Forestry, which has a reputation for raising the biggest amount during the annual food drive, lived up to that expectation again this year. Always the team to beat, the college raised the equivalent of 54,858 pounds of food (a combination of cash and food donations). The only group to come close to that amount was University Housing and Dining Services, which raised the equivalent of 44,759 pounds of food and gave an additional 940 lbs through their monthly food rescue program in the dining halls.

Donations will directly benefit the community’s most vulnerable residents. Kate Sanders, one of the event organizers, said she was very proud of how the university community stepped up to the challenge.

“If it wasn’t for the dedication and passion of our college and department coordinators, we wouldn’t have come close to raising this much food,” Sanders said. “For the past three years, I have been continuously impressed by OSU’s generosity.”